Stolen Skull Can't Lead To Ill. County Liability, 7th Circ. Says

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois county's coroner cannot be held liable for a former official's "abhorrent" practice of saving his examination subjects' skulls because the conduct itself was illegal and not part of his state-imposed duty to return bodily remains, a split Seventh Circuit panel has ruled.

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Crypto Firm BlockFills Gets OK For $3.25M Ch. 11 Sale

By Clara Geoghegan

A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday agreed to approve the $3.25 million sale of cryptocurrency financial technology firm BlockFills to a Belgian digital asset investment group as BlockFills prepares for a Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing.

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Illinois Adds Taxes On Digital Ads, Crypto, Prediction Markets

By Maria Koklanaris

Illinois will tax digital advertising, social media platforms, cryptocurrency, prediction markets and more under a nearly $56 billion budget signed Tuesday by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.

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7th Circ. Scraps American Airlines Toxic Uniforms Suit

By Linda Chiem

The Seventh Circuit said Tuesday that American Airlines employees suing over allegedly toxic uniforms didn't have sufficient expert evidence suggesting the uniforms triggered their allergic reactions and other health symptoms, rejecting their bid to invoke the legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to infer a defect or negligence.

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Wash. Judge Won't Revisit Order On Ed. Dept. School Grants

By Joyce Hanson

A federal judge in Seattle will not reconsider her decision declining to enforce an earlier order barring the U.S. Department of Education from ceasing school mental health grants, saying Washington and other plaintiff states have not shown that the court erred.

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Judge Won't Nix Minor's Guardian In Ethiopia Crash Suit

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge won't remove a court-appointed independent guardian for the minor child of a victim of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, saying the litigation behavior of the child's grandparents in opposing the appointment has only reinforced the need for one.

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Fannie, Freddie AI Rules Raise Stakes For Mortgage Lenders

Artificial intelligence governance frameworks recently released by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac impose monitoring and vendor oversight standards on mortgage lenders, potentially reshaping secondary-market eligibility, fair lending reviews and risk management as compliance deadlines approach, says Brendan Palfreyman at Harris Beach.

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The Paradoxical Duty To Adopt AI When You Can't Bill For It

Both billing for hours saved using artificial intelligence and preserving billable time by not adopting AI may violate rules of professional conduct, but until bar associations' ethics rules catch up to this emerging economic dilemma, firms must decide how to adjust fee structures themselves, says Ines Lassalle at Peyrot & Associates.

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These Firms Secured The Most Damages In The Last 3 Years

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Government lawyers had a strong success rate in federal courts over the last three years, but intellectual property litigation saw certain firms secure damage awards worth hundreds of millions of dollars for clients, according to Lex Machina's Law Firms Activity Report 2026 released on Tuesday.

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Ex-Girardi Atty Hid Firm's Diversion Of Funds, State Bar Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A State Bar of California prosecutor argued Tuesday at a disciplinary trial that ex-Girardi Keese attorney Robert Finnerty hid the firm's misappropriation of millions of dollars from a family's $53 million settlement, while Finnerty's counsel countered he's being blamed for the actions of his former boss, convicted and disbarred attorney Tom Girardi.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Denied Acquittal Or Retrial

By Alison Knezevich

A Maryland federal judge on Tuesday denied SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein's bid for an acquittal or new trial, rejecting his claims that issues with jury instructions and excluded evidence warranted a do-over in his tax evasion and mortgage fraud case.

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Ex-Judge Loses Bid To Undo ICE Obstruction Conviction

By Britain Eakin

Former Wisconsin state judge Hannah Dugan has failed in her attempt to use a Fourth Circuit decision to vacate her conviction for helping a defendant in her courtroom evade immigration agents, with a federal judge ruling Tuesday the decision involves fact patterns that differ from her case.

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Senate Rejects Bid To Block Fast-Track Immigration Appeals

By Courtney Bublé

A Democratic-led Senate resolution that would have blocked a U.S. Department of Justice rule directing its Board of Immigration Appeals to quickly dismiss cases that don't raise "novel" issues failed to pass Tuesday.

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Blanche To Go Before Senate Panel July 15

By Courtney Bublé

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination hearing is a month away, and the fate of his confirmation is likely in the hands of Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

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Oral Arguments In Comey, James Appeal Set For September

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Fourth Circuit has scheduled in-person oral arguments for the Trump administration's appeal of the dismissals of indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James for Sept. 15-18.

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Brazil Says Justice Is Immune From Trump Media's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

Brazil asked Monday to intervene and dismiss a suit by President Donald Trump's media company and online video-sharing platform Rumble Inc. against a Brazilian Supreme Federal Court justice's gag orders, saying the suit cannot overcome immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

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